This invention relates generally to nanotechnology and to the fabrication of very small electronic devices.
In nanotechnology, very small electronic devices may be fabricated from physical parts. For example, a field effect transistor may be made of sources and drains fabricated from nano-wires such as carbon nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes are graphene cylinders whose ends are closed by caps, including pentagonal rings. The nanotube is an hexagonal network of carbon atoms forming a seamless cylinder. These cylinders can be as little as a nanometer in diameter with lengths of tens of microns, in some cases. Depending on how they are made, the tubes can be multiple walled or single walled.
The nano-wires may be utilized to form the source and drain of a transistor. However, the source and drain must be aligned with one another and a channel must be defined between the carbon nanotubes. The channel or gap between the two nano-wires is very small.
Thus, there is a need for better ways to make nano-devices using nano-wires having relatively small nano-gaps between the nano-wires.